


Labo of Sara

by The_Exile



Category: Super Hydlide (Video Game), Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki: Alternative Saga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Implied Relationships, M/M, Roos, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 09:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18428156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Exile/pseuds/The_Exile
Summary: On his supposedly Adol-proof enchanted boat, Mitchel takes Adol across the sea to explore the Gagharv rift which has mysteriously manifested in the middle of the ocean. After the inevitable shipwreck, Adol finds a secret colony of Roos, ruins of an ancient civilisation and, of course, big trouble.art provided by danceswithgary - https  : / / archiveofourown.org / works / 18422070





	1. Chapter 1

Gagharv. It didn't even sound like a word from any language of this world. The man who spoke it to me - a fellow traveller, albeit with better luck around boats than him, or maybe just a better boat - had claimed it to be a rift between worlds, a great crevasse leaving into the endless darkness of the interdimensional void. He'd been odd enough to have come from another world, one like our own enough for me to recognise a fellow human, maybe, but somehow essentially different. Those strangely immaculate, brightly coloured travelling clothes, his youthful face with eyes that, while pleasant, spoke of so much experience and knowledge, several times more than even my own adventures. He had that aura of powerful magic around him that I've grown accustomed to, except I couldn't tell you from which House of Ys he might be a descendant of - he behaved a little like a Gemma, full of raw curiosity and questions about every little facet of this world - but with the raw power of a Fact - leaving me to conclude that this was yet another type of arcane power I haven't found the source of yet, although they all inevitably lead back to the same thing. He had none of the ascetic frailness of many mages, having been on the open road at least as long as I had. He steered that ship like a master sailor, being able to navigate to any location in this world that was unfamiliar to him without mistake, though I still couldn't tell you how that vessel actually worked. We went together to seas I've ran aground in many a time, from hidden sharp rocks or fearsome beasts or raging currents, and yet that sparkling, smooth, dark-wood hull never seemed to get a spot on it, nor lose paint from its intricately carved figurehead of a beast I'd never seen.

 

I told him of my own interesting luck when it came to sea voyages - something I'm so used to that I'm happy to laugh about it with strangers, despite how close it comes to killing me sometimes - and marvelled at how well his boat had survived the curse of its benighted passenger up until now. He joked that he'd have thrown me overboard long ago if he'd been told straight away the full extent of my curse - at least, he claimed it was a joke after I narrowed my eyes and placed my hand on my sword hilt, aware that many a sailor who'd heard the rumours might really be tempted to such violence towards me by now. Then he admitted that he saw it as a challenge, as his boat was something of a new model, commissioned by him using all the latest developments in shipbuilding, enchantments that could be woven into wood, and up-to-date information on how to navigate Ghagarv, something nobody else had ever succeeded in. Something of a wandering scholar and expert in many subjects, he had overseen the project, of course, but it had been a group effort of many skilled artisans, and he had felt honoured to be the one to first test it. My curse, if it were true, sounded like the perfect challenge. I replied that I would welcome the opportunity to travel on board a ship that might just be immune to me, truly the first of its kind, and that of course I was quite curious to see this Ghagarv of which he spoke.

 

I think it was this novelty of so many genuinely peaceful nights on the open wave, the sea's lullaby rocking me to sleep, or allowing me to stand on the deck and gaze out at the stars, that led me to start having such vivid dreams all of a sudden. I hadn't experienced such clarity and purpose in my nocturnal visions since those days on the Isle of Seiren. Maybe my mind was wandering rather a lot more, too, having none of the preoccupation that came with constant threats to your life that you expected to see over the horizon with every new ebb and flow of the tide. Dogi - of course he was there - had picked up on my mood as well, at first remarking how quiet and calm it had been lately, how much time we'd had just to sit and drunk rum under the stars and reminisce on our ever interesting lives. Later, I began to remark more and more how quiet it had become to the point of ridiculousness, not even the unnerving quiet that my adventurer's instincts knew meant something was about to happen. Dogi replied that I was getting jumpy, that I wasn't used to this much peace and quiet, that I needed something to occupy myself, like maybe finding out as much as I could from this Mr. Mitchell lap Haven about wherever it was that we were going.

 

But then I started having no dreams except the same few, experiencing them in earnest, with the exact same lucidity as that time in Seiren.

* * *

 

I had reached Ghagarv, this vast gulf in space, through which the stars shone and a demon wind howled, and now the small but invincible ship was drifting slowly towards it. Without warning, the sea began to churn, the ground beneath it rumble. Checking that my sword was strapped to my back and my notebook was very firmly tucked away in my clothes, protected by several layers of oilskins, I threw myself to the deck and waited for my luck to turn. Mitchell cried out in utter astonishment as the mountains making up the rift itself began to rumble, then great forks of flame roared forth from it, straight upwards into the air, in a way that was different from any kind of volcano I'd ever seen. A voice rang out in my head, speaking in an incomprehensible but somehow familiar language, ancient and too close to something demonic for my liking. I seemed to understand at least its tone, its emotions and intent, though. There was the air of something massively important about to happen, of extreme urgency that I be involved.

 

(Yet again. It's the same wherever I go. I'm either dragged towards it or flung away from it and it's equally important either way that I still manage to tackle it with a clear head on my shoulders. Usually while at least one giant demonic beast tries to separate the two from each other.)

 

As I looked on, quite aware that the ship was now unpiloted, what with lap Haven's utter distraction, and heading straight towards the rift, more flames rose from the darkness, sending out a blinding light. Then there was just darkness and stars and a column of light, and I thought that maybe we'd already fallen in, except that, once again, something had kept me from death. I was floating in the darkness, somewhere closer to the light and the voices, and in front of me was a sword.

 

I was always a talented swordsman, even before I became an explorer in earnest, and I've always kept up with the training that keeps me alive in so many dangerous situations, so I was always relieved that fate kept finding me new swords to replace the ones it later stole whenever I fell overboard for its entertainment. This one felt like one of the most beautiful, sacred, mystical, superbly crafted I had ever seen. Made of pure orihalcon, its handle wrapped in purple spellweave cord with a glittering carnelian gem set into the hilt, it truly sang to me. Exultation raced through my mind as I closed my hand over it...

 


	2. Chapter 2

And woke up, the familiar pain all through me, aware that none of the part about a shipwreck had been a dream. Except maybe that Dogi had been there, as I could no longer see the man anywhere. I was in darkness, somewhere wet and cold, cavernous and draughty, with drips coming from some vast ceiling. Aches wracked my body, every part of me bruised. I was cold and hungry and had no idea how long I had been lying here. Maybe I was just used to all of this but I have an unusual endurance under this kind of punishment for someone of my build. Wincing and rubbing my eyes, I stood up and reached for my pack. I was relieved to find that my rations, fresh water, sword and notebook were still there. My trusty steel sword, that was, not the miraculous blade I'd seen in my dream. If that had ever existed, it was long gone. Maybe that was vision or the future, or maybe it had been the lure that had led me to ruin, or maybe I was judged unworthy. Still, most things died when you stabbed them with steel, so it was better than nothing. I set about looking for something to make a light with, following the few soft illuminations I could just about make out.

Following the dim light and feeling my way through the wide, echoing tunnels with their strange ridges where the dripping water eroded them, passing jagged stalactites and stalagmites, glad that I could not hear any telltale growling or slithering, flapping or screeching. I was aware that there were many monsters out there that didn't make a sound, that this gloom was the perfect environment for them to hide in the shadows, but there was little I could do against them except to keep all my senses alert, look around often, listen to my instincts. This didn't feel like a place infested with monsters. For one thing, there were far too many smaller creatures, bats flitting in and out of the shadows from the alcoves in the ceiling, small slime colonies glooping down the walls. It felt too genuinely calm, almost blessed. I followed the light as it steadily became brighter, it seeming the best of very few available options considering how little I knew about where I was. Eventually I emerged through a wide cavern to find myself in the cave entrance, looking out at a tapestry of bright, clear but unfamiliar stars, their constellations not patterns I was used to seeing in the sky. This was a cove looking out to sea, the waves quite gentle, not in danger of flooding the inlet, although it never hurt to be careful when you had no luck at sea. I could see now by the shape of the sharp blue-black rocks all around me, looming like demons, that I had drifted to shore somewhere near the Gagharv rift - judging by the completely changed starscape, probably on the other side of it. I hoped that my strange new associate Mr. lap Haven had survived, that his ship was intact - I'd been thrown from ships in this manner before. I tried to stop myself worrying about Dogi, reminding myself that he had been following me almost since my career began and that he was used to this sort of thing happening by now. The twin moons were still visible at least, reminding me of two cerulean-haired Goddesses who I firmly believed still kept me alive despite my cursed journey, and this combined with the soft waves to calm my nerves a little. I heal quickly, I always have, so my aches were already beginning to fade as I watched the silvery-blue light play over the dark waters. I took a few healing herbs from my pouch, miraculously still dry and edible, then chewed them to accelerate the healing process. As I waited for the half an hour or so they took to completely kick in, I amused myself with the slightly more vivid colours and swirling auras around everything, the music I hummed to myself seeming closer and louder in my mind. I was finally in a space where I could really think about the implications of what was happening. 

Gagharv - a genuine rift between two entire worlds - had turned out to really exist. And, while I was the only one of my kind to sail out and see it with my own eyes and actually survived (I hope...), I have met with someone from a genuine other world who knew of our existence already. 

Since I deactivated the rogue Ark of Napishtim, foiling the Eldeeni's plan to reactivate it for malicious purposes, the storm walls created by its weather control systems turned off one by one. Every continent and island that had been sealed off from each other were now accessible by sea. This brought new, faster trade routes as the sea became safer, also slightly fewer nautical disasters for me, although nature tended to find a way. There was also the unfortunate issue that Romn could now invade anywhere it liked, and I was often the one hired by third parties to go and warn this or the other nation of Romun activities, under the guise of innocent wanderlust, despite my repeated insistence that I do not dabble in politics - from what I've seen of the darkness in the hearts of so many different folk, how should I know if the particular settlement I'm saving is any more benevolent if left to its own devices? It was exactly the sort of intervention that Eldeel had warned me of, now that I had become an undeniably large force of change in the world, unnaturally large for one individual who could still claim to be human. 

Of course, there were other problems for me to deal with, in any case; not every impassible barrier is caused by the Ark, as I found out in Seiren, and then there are some storms that are just natural, or some seas that just genuinely always did have giant ship-eating octopi living in them. For some reason, these are the ones I always seem to find.

The point being, there hadn't just been a huge rift in the middle of the ocean, seemingly placed there in some precise geometric way, for a long time. Especially not one that suddenly appeared. Lap Haven did claim that new rifts in Ghagarv were a thing that just happened, sometimes, piercing the veil that was always thin around this point where every world seemed to converge. He had thought it the natural course of a fissure that was still spreading, tiny cracks expanding as the whole thing was still ripped apart - a worrying prospect in itself, as it did imply that the entire Universe would just split in two some day, and even a scholar of his caliber had no idea if Universes were supposed to withstand that sort of strain on them. The laws of nature already did seem a lttle chaotic, a little worn ragged, around the edges of the rifts, letting magic and demons from other dimensions seep in (at this point I wondered if Ghagarv had something to do with our own connection to a demon realm, activated most often by the use of magic and its reinforcement with certain arcane-conductive ores).  And now the rift had started acting purposeful. It had clearly appeared in my world deliberately, and had then acted as though it was seeking me out with its visions and dreams and promises. 

As I've probably mentioned before, any destiny asking for me by name is always bad news. The fate of the places I visit never involves me at first. I usually end up accidentally usurping the major role of another, or saving them when their quest was doomed to failure, or something else that made me suddenly the centre of all the divine and demonic attention for hundreds of krimelye around.  My learned sense of danger was now warning me that I'd accidentally gotten myself into something big this time, even compared to usual.

 And that was when I saw the Roo.


	3. Chapter 3

For a long time now I've been without the ability to communicate with the Roo. Feena had made me give back the Staves of Ys so that she could be sure she'd sealed away all the magic of that fallen civilisation, demonic taint and all. The Roo Elder of Celceta had asked for the Divine Beast Collars back as well; while we were trusted as proven friends of the Roo, the rest of humanity had been seen to not always have such good interests at heart for, well, anything, really. The Elder particularly didn't want the Romun army finding a way to infiltrate Roo society and discover all their secret sanctuaries; in fact, the Roo of that continent were even now looking for a way to seal their Great Forest back off from the outside world, now I was quite finished with it, thank you very much. I can't say I don't blame them. However, it has left me with no way of transforming into a Roo, and hence, no way to change my vocal chords into ones that could utter Roo sounds. 

I do understand a fair amount of Roo, however, and the little creatures are intelligent enough to pick up a simple sign language pretty much instantly, especially when bribed with food. Dried Roda fruit and nuts were worth far, far less on the Roo barter market than fresh fruit but at least they would be looked at. At least, if this had been an ordinary Roo. Taking one look at the creature, I realised it wasn't. Not at all.

An ordinary Roo is around the size of a small human child, somewhat like a large shrew in appearance, yellow-furred with long ears and snout, large powerful legs designed for jumping great distances, endearing dark beady eyes. They often featured tufts of hair and small horns like a cow, and a lighter coloured underbelly. They varied in colouration, size and hairiness by region but I had never seen one coming even close to looking like this one. 

It was almost pure white, with strikingly dark eyes by contrast. Its ears, nose and legs were even longer, giving a strange, spindly appearance, much more animalistic than the usual Roo, who was pretty much on a par with a human. However, I could see the same glimmer of intelligence, as well as a strange kind of mysterious wisdom in its unblinking eyes. Something about it made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle as well; magical energy, I realised later, vast amounts of it, and perfectly well controlled.

I'd always suspected that Roos had some kind of magical power, a lot of which they were probably concealing. There had to be a reason why they registered as fully demonic, despite me never seeing one perform a malevolent act. Their talents already lent themselves towards deception and evasion, of avoiding conflict and leading the enemy into danger while staying out of it themselves, of knowing the back ways through everywhere, making themselves useful and having something to trade where they can. In other words, direct conflict was of no interest to a Roo. It was a logical next step that a Roo could hide the true extent of their magical powers. I can't say the thought hadn't slightly unnerved me once or twice, when I'd seen a Roo pushed to bearing their sharp little teeth, usually in a fight over food or a potential mate that was quickly resolved, in the latter case by the potential mate smacking both males with claws extended and bounding off into the network of tunnels they always seemed to have everywhere. 

This Roo seemed different again. Something in their bearing was more solitary, the way things are when their power is too much for two of them to be in the same place without it causing certain problems. Before now I'd only really felt it in dragons and fully grown Eldeeni. There was a strange kind of silence in the air, too, not the full silence that sucked the life out of the air and felt like something was fundamentally broken - I could still hear that sweet angelic music playing in the back of my mind - but it was the soft, clear silence of the middle of the night, when you could hear the chirps and buzzes of insects, the tiniest shifts of the water's currents, the crackle and hum from the sky, the little background noises that were the cogs and gears turning in a functional world. A visible white aura shone around the creature, who now twitched their long tail and bounced on the spot, giving me a curious sideways glance, something like a wild animal in a very undisturbed place but even more powerful.

Then the white Roo gave me a clear gesture that meant 'follow me'. I agreed, always happy to employ the services of a competent native guide, and I was led down a rather precarious path carved into the side of the cliff, a walkway I suspected was designed for someone more the Roo's size than my own. I managed, however, used to a lot of improbable acrobatic feats in places originally populated by winged beings.

As I continued along the path after the bouncing Roo, trying my hardest not to look down, knowing that I couldn't really afford any extra movements if I was to avoid plummeting to my death on the sharp storm-tossed rocks below, I began to see another curious sight: avenues of powered lamp posts, like the ones in Duran's village, set a regular intervals. Duran had explained that these operated using a mixture of powerful lightning magic, the knowledge of spellcrafting necessary to bind an enchantment permanently into an object, and the engineering skills to do a lot of the work without needing magic at all. Large amounts of this knowledge had been acquired from the Great Library or passed down from Eldeel himself. For what reason the same technology would exist in this isolated cove populated only by some odd evolutionary branch of the Roo, I could not begin to imagine. Something lost from the time of the ancients, I suppose, and yet still well engineered enough to be working here and now, when it was needed by small animals and insane adventurers.

Inspecting the lights with a series of little trilling chirps, the Roo bounded onward, reaching another small cave set into the cliff, this one shielded by a large, silvery metal door, in which I could see no lock or key, even a seam where the door could open. With a loud chirp, the Roo held out one paw in a gesture of command towards the door. White light streamed from the Roo's paw towards a silvery jewel in the centre of the door, set into a design not unlike the crest of Ys. With a beep and a swishing noise, the door slid away into a hidden cavity in the rock. The Roo gave me a pointed glance, then jumped inside. 

Several more arcanely engineered lamps flickered on, a web of blue glowing globes on small posts, and I saw that the room was a design I had seen once before, and had filled me with wonder back then: it was almost exactly the same as the Ruins of Lost Time I'd seen during my adventures in the Canaan Islands. The great vaults with their ridged black walls of unearthly metals, almost organic in design but clearly made with technology lost to us now, the gigantic metal statues with strange lights in their eyes, fixed to the walls by thick black tubes like something living, waiting to be born... the mechanical monsters that had attacked him in droves, some of them impossible to hurt with his sword, a lot of them spindly-legged, jumping things, strangely similar to a Roo in appearance, except that Roos didn't normally shoot energy bolts out of their eyes. Here again, too, were the hexagonal floor patterns raised in different tiers, like an insect’s hive, and the also hexagonal narrow walkways and gantries overlooking everything. All was wreathed in the same eerie blue flickering glow.

I soon realised, however, that this place did not actually feel all that eerie. The lighting was slightly different, not fizzling or fading wildly in and out, but staying solid or pulsing rhythmically in time to beeps and whirrs. The place was relatively warm, not badly lit. While I saw the occasional mechanical Roo-like figure hopping around, often suddenly emerging from the underside of a device or terminal I had no way to recognise, the automata seemed to have no desire to attack me. They looked engaged in other tasks, interfacing with the machinery around them, seemingly repairing them or keeping them activated when they turned off. Something small and round with Roo ears and a claw arm underneath it handed the Roo an object like a small glowing tablet, which they grabbed with both paws and inspected with a nose-twitch of acknowledgement of the little drone. It buzzed away to the far side of the vast chamber to join a large flock of its kind.


	4. Chapter 4

This is what a fully working facility of this type looks like, I suddenly realised, not an abandoned, half-ruined, powering down version. Something lost to humans thousands of years ago, if humanity had ever even been involved in this stage of civilisation, was being kept in perfect operation by these lost Roos. And I was aware now that there were a lot more of the Roos now emerging from little booths and alcoves where they had been hard at work. They now surrounded me a in a curious circle, a cluster of darkly glinting eyes watching me, a ring of heads turning to one side, noses twitching questioningly.

One of them, smaller than the others with sleek silky fur, wearing what looked like some kind of mechanical monocle over their left eye, leaped forward and let out a tirade of questioning chirps to my guide, waving small arms in exasperation. The conversation continued for several minutes between them until I decided to cough loudly and introduce myself. I remembered the last time I was with a group of Roos lost in a heated argument. I had almost starved to death waiting for them to agree that it was okay to feed strange Roos the same food as you.

Greeting them with an exaggerated arm-waving gesture that had worked on previous Roos, I said my name and pointed at myself, then made a gesture to open the conversational floor back to them.

The first, immediate response was not from the mouths of the Roos, but on the largest, central panel on the machinery, hanging from a hexagonal pillar that came down from the ceiling, which was somewhere, invisible, overhead. 

Using my limited memory of Roonic, I read: S A R A.

"Sara? Is that you?" I asked the Roo I had just seen hit several small raised squares on the panels set into the hexagons. Now I looked closely, I realised they were full of glowing runes that corresponded to the symbols of their language. It looked not unlike the 'typewriter' that the Gemma family were inventing last time I received correspondence from them. It was already working well enough that I was given mostly legible letters typed out on a prototype of it. These panels looked much more advanced and easier to operate. 

The little white Roo shook her head and hit some more keys. Symbols appeared after the word 'SARA', until I understood.

"Sara is what you call yourselves collectively? So, you're not Roos? Or is Sara a tribe of Roo?" I asked. Then I stopped, remembering the last time I'd gotten into a bar brawl, after mistaking a very pale Altaginian for a Romun, "I do apologise if that's an insensitive question! I'm very ignorant about your ways! Think of me as an infant!"

After a brief consultation, presumably over how to word it to such an idiot, the panel operator replied, roughly translated: SARA *first*. *Then* ROO. 

"You came before the Roo! You're like the Eldeeni are to humanity!" I realised, open-mouthed at the revelation, "They... they never told me you existed!"

*Private*, wrote the Sara, *Sacred*.

That made sense, I supposed, it's very personal information and I've experienced the very sensible Roo mistrust of the outside world, especially humanity. Come to think of, most humans I'd met were completely unaware of their Eldeeni predecessors, or at least held wild delusions about being descended from them and deserving to inherit their power (this is not how Eldeeni succession works, by the way, trust me!), or was aware of the truth about the Eldeeni but sworn to protect the truth from those who didn't need to know, either directly by a true Eldeeni successor or by a duty passed down, or just by common sense and memories of the last time it went horribly wrong when a knowledge leak got out of hand.

(Why I know so much about the subject these days, I'm not sure, maybe I'm just spending too much time around Eldeel and the village worshiping him, and around the descendants of the priests of Ys, and around scholars interested in my discoveries in general, so much that I'm turning into rather a philosopher myself. It'll give me something to do if I live long enough to be too old for this, I suppose... I'm reminded of old man Raba, who still acts too much like me.)

"In that case," (dare I ask...), "Why am I being told? Why am I being allowed in here at all?"

There was another long pause, during which I suddenly had the horrible worry that they were agreeing with my suspicion that this was an easily fixed slip-up. Then the leader, talking to my guide, chirped an order to the Operator, who wrote:

ADOL *Destiny*

"Of course. Of course I'm mixed up in your destiny just by being here," I sighed and facepalmed, "Is this to do with a sword, by any chance?"

The screen blurred like a pool of water being disturbed, then reformed into an image of a very familiar ruby-tipped, flame-wreathed sword hanging in the black void.

* * *

They knew where the sword was already, of course, for the same reason that they knew my name, my reputation, quite a few stories about me, and even, for that matter, what a sword was, despite being seemingly a divergent race of marsupials stuck in a void between worlds, and the sword clearly being made for humans, and Roos not really using weapons, at least not ones that fit in the hand and were swung at the enemy. They finally confirmed with me what I suspected for a long time now - that Roos have a worldwide information network. This was telepathic, and transmitted along the Roda trees, with the Great Tree and the Roo Elder of Celceta who was bonded to it as the main hub. This had, of course, taken a while to communicate, with a few of the concepts either not having good words in Roo or in any human language. My guide continued explaining the situation to me as we began the long walk to the sword's location. Their name apparently did not translate into a human language either - the names given to me and me companions were for our sakes, to make it more convenient for us to talk, and all such names for communicating with other species tended to be the same kind of corrupted versions of the other species' with the word 'Roo' added so we could remember that we talked to a Roo. A Roo's sense of personal identity was rather different and did not require a name, they rather had a telepathic imprint of each other, like a cat or dog leaves a scent marking, and a word to mark Roo or not-Roo. 

A Sara was different again, fitting into the category of Roo but being distinct enough for its own word. The distinction was difficult to explain and I was overtly told that I was not being given all the information I wanted to know, for safety's sake. Roos had been Saras before, and had lived in this place before spreading out - I had the vague impression that they had previously traveled here from somewhere else again using a method that was now lost. A lot had been lost, abandoned and discarded, probably now so badly maintained that it would take years to reactivate. The Sara had managed to keep their own living quarters safe, secure, with all the necessary functions for them to live and continue their work, and I had the impression, although they refused to confirm this, that the Roos performed some sort of service for them in spreading across the world and slipping into so many rather secret and sacred places in the world, places of great magical power. Maybe this facility was powered by magic which they were harvesting? In any case, they were trying their best to reactivate the other facilities but this was proving difficult because of some gigantic monstrous demon that needed a seasoned human adventurer to help them to slay it.

Of course. And of course that would be me. 

Actually, they explained exactly why it had to be me - I'm the only skilled human adventurer who was known to be friendly to the Roos, and this was an extremely sensitive situation for the Roos. Why it had to be a human and not, say, a small army of their security robots - well, they had already sent half their robots, which they unimaginatively called 'Defenders'. to deal with the monster, and every one of the machines had been instantly destroyed by one heavy attack. Humans, they explained, were notoriously fierce and warlike, capable of spreading across the world and conquering everything, such dangerous beasts, in fact, that they would literally not trust a single one to come near their hidden settlement except the particularly strange one known as Adol Christin. I was a peculiar specimen for a human, they elaborated, and the Elder was not sure I even counted as a human at all, but that I should be made an honorary Roo.

I was not sure whether to be offended or flattered. I had heard before the theory that I wasn't human, although usually I was accused of being a demon or a demigod, both of which I discouraged at all costs as they were equally likely to get me into a lot of trouble - I had never before been called a Roo, at least not by someone who knew it was me and wasn't actually mistaking me for my Roo disguise. Had I said, for instance, 'I don't think of you as a Romun, you're too nice and friendly, to me you're an honorary Garman', I'm sure I'd be punched in the face, and considering the impression the Roo had of humans, it felt as though the same thing was happening to me. 

However, I was much too worried about the idea of a giant demon who could scrap fifty titanium-shelled, laser-spewing security robots with one swing of its claw. Or, as the Sara later clarified, with a barrage of energy bolts of its own. It had magic, although it could only use the magic in a very mechanical way, as it was a very crude artificial generator. It had been in its prototype stage when it suddenly turned hostile. The resulting devastation to their complex, the loss of lives, the sheer horror at what they had created, had been what inspired them to never build weapons again, even so much as a sword. 

This monster they had created, they called it Kaizack. It had been an experiment in the use of demonic energy, a phenomenon they'd only just encountered and, to them, wasn't any different from the other realms they sometimes contacted here in Ghagarv. They knew it was dangerous, that the destructive nature meant they could only use it as a weapon, which they only intended to use for security, but they didn't expect it to mutate and overwhelm the entire summoning circle in such a short space of time.

And now only the sword they'd found, had a chance of defeating it. A sword far too big and unwieldy for a Roo to use, even had they any training.

While we still discussed this on the path, my Guide describing for me the terrible beast of their creation - how it was as large as one of the chambers we had been in, its claws large enough to grab and crush me as though I was a tiny bird, its black leathery skin hiding weapons, both claws and energy blasts, that mutated of their own will to form more - I took note of the path that would lead me to the sword. It was a fairly rough hewn tunnel set in to the far wall of the chamber, steps cut into the steep, winding stairway with the lamps set into the walls and a basic metal framework holding the tunnel up. As we climbed, the Sara possessing the same seemingly endless energy I associated with all Roos as his powerful feet bounded up several steps at once, I began to smell fresh mountain air, feel a chill wind, see what was now soft gentle sunlight as the sun rose over the horizon. Sea mist filled the air too, giving the two moons still faintly in the sky a ghostly look. I had lost track of time while we were deep in the facility and I had little to no idea where I was in relation to anything else. Now we were high on the peak of one of the mountains, where the scenery had plateaued into a small area of scrubland, ranging in colour from silvery fronds to flaming purple-blue flowers. A rather chill wind ruffled my hair and the flaps of my tunic. There was a dampness on the breeze that clung to my face, the mist still thick and heavy. I heard the distinct gloop-gloop of a walking slime mold, probably one of the varieties that evolved from the moss and lichen growing on the boulders strewn all around the moors. These were distinctly louder, though, probably from a larger slime. I heard the scrabbling and rustling of other things larger than me, too, unidentifiable screeches and keening wails that could be birds but might not be. Out of the corner of my eye, I distinctly saw a tree move, uprooting itself and slapping its roots menacingly on the ground as it shuffled forward, knotholes and cracks in its bark shifting around in a pattern that looked unnervingly like sharp, gnashing teeth. My sword hand tightened its grip, every shadow in the mist suddenly looking threatening. The Sara, too, darted its head this way and that, ears pricked up, nose twitching. A clear message in Roonic appeared on the small terminal he held: 

DANGER


	5. Chapter 5

Thorny vines lashed out at me and something impossibly huge still managed to spring towards me with lightning speed, massive jaws snapping at me, smelling of rotten stumps and sour sap. My reflexes saved me, sending me jumping backwards, sword already out. I swung back at the next vine aimed at my head, cutting it free so that it writhed along the ground like a mad serpent, spewing thick green sap. More were coming, though, from all sides, and I knew that I couldn't hold them all off. I had to keep running forwards through the deadly gauntlet of thrashing spiked tree roots. They weren't the only things awake and hunting on these moors either; the glooping was louder now, an acidic stench becoming more pungent, and I also saw the flitting of bat wings, except far too large to be bats, together with savage screeches almost too high pitched to be audible. I continued running and slashing, using every sense to tell me what was coming next, choosing the correct tiny spot of safe movement and springing towards it. The small, faint light of the Sara still guided me, and it was only when I finished, a long time afterwards, when I was back inside the caverns and every muscle burned like fire and the adrenaline felt like my heart was lurching out of my chest, did it occur to me that I couldn't have survived that alone - the little Sara must have done something to me, cast some sort of spell. A light designed to guide me or to repel the enemy, maybe, or a shield around me, or something to bless me in battle. My sword dripped green, my tunic in tatters (Dogi will scold me to no end...), my hair a rat's nest. 

When I reached the top of that hill and grabbed that sword, though, it had been different. Nothing would go near me with that blade in my hand, the flaming aura around us both. It hovered in the blackness above the crater, as it had done in the vision, where the hill suddenly gave way to a sheer drop where the Ghagarv began again, gouged out of the side, and I was sickened to think how close I was to falling in myself. An edifice like the plinth of an invisible statue was erected underneath it, a light from it seemingly holding it aloft. As I examined it closely, I realised it was made of the same material as the machines of the Saras, a silvery metal with lights embedded inside it that flowed green along its smooth surface as I reached out a hand towards it. As I closed my hand around the blade, it beeped, its chime rather exultant. Then, as I thrust it into the jaws of the nearest tree-thing, the blade burst into flame, igniting the creature's trunk. I roared and kept on hacking into wood, watching the whole clearing become swallowed up by the purple inferno that mirrored the moorland flowers. Everything was still burning when I ran back inside. 

I collapsed, then, and woke up to find the Saras had placed me inside an uncomfortably cramped cot full of annoying, beeping flashing lights, which I refrained from kicking when I realised it had healed me and that my clothes were also cleaned and mended, my hair even looking neat for once. I had not let go of the blade but it had fallen silent apart from a faint chime and a small pulse of amethyst light.

* * *

* Fire hazard * said the symbols on the monitor, as a stern-faced healer-Sara with big, dark eyes inspected him.

"This sword... it was in one of your machines," I noted, inspecting it with the same care and practiced eye. I saw literally no flaws in it. Light, strong, well-balanced with a smooth action, its blade gleamed, flawless. It sang a beautiful chime when swung around experimentally. 

*All* *sword* *constructed* *technology*, pointed out the Sara.

"I... suppose so, but this really looks like you were the only ones who could have made it," I said, "Look, the crafting is too precise for one of our forges, and the metal is like nothing from our world."

*Other* *old race* *have* *sword*, they said, after a pause, *too big* *Sara*.

I briefly wondered if this was something to do with the Eldeeni, "But that's definitely one of your devices it was inside..."

*Sara* *store* *safe* *dangerous* *foliage*.

"Dangerous foliage, huh," I sighed, knowing that they weren't in the mood to talk about this, and that I would have to take it at face value. The Roos had some dangerous weapons, some of which they apparently had trouble controlling, and some of which they had obtained through dubious contracts. They had as much right as humans did, I supposed, and , as far as I could tell, had already caused less disasters with it than both humanity and the Eldeen; on our world at least. 

I was about to find out the true extent of the damage they had done to their own habitat. The Roos had promised to lead me down into the disaster site, the entire sections of this complex that had been sealed off. Things lurked down there, they warned, other than Kaizack himself, things that had been spawned as by-products of the creation of Kaizack, or that had been altered by the demon's existence after the fact, or had been other foolish projects come to light.

I sighed, wondering whether people of any species would ever learn not to mess with demonic essence. The stern-faced leader replied that they needed to at least learn what it was, before it entered of its own will and overran us all anyway; that they had seen it exist perfectly happily on its own without hurting anything, that they were sure there was a right world for it, like everything else, where it was just as much a part of nature as trees and humans and Roos.

Fine choice of words when demonic trees had tried to eat me several times today.

The treants, as I remember them being called back home, were allegedly there to begin with, as were the slimes and bats. This had never been a hospitable place on the surface, always been a forgotten place where things hid from the light and the races that dwelled within it and couldn't possibly understand the creatures that made the darkness their home. The parts of the facility infected by the demonic powers of the Saras' creation had been sealed behind an enormous vault door that it took several of the Sara machine operators working in unison to bypass all the security for, until finally, still giving off a lot of frantic warning beeps and flashing red lights, the iris seal opened and the door itself rumbled into the wall's cavities. In expectation of the attack that immediately came, several lizard-like creatures trying to fly out with bat wings, claws slashing and energy bolts streaming from their fanged maws, the Saras all poured their magic into one huge wall of protective energy around the door. Also protected by a smaller shield, I ran inside, springing at the nearest lizard-thing and bringing my sword around in a swift, powerful slash that cut through its chest, sending green ichor everywhere. Immediately following it up with a flurry of savage slashes, knocking aside every foul claw, I screamed at the Saras to close the portal behind me. The door rolled shut again, leaving me in the dim gloom where red lights pulsed on and off like the beating of some giant mechanical heart, and things skittered and clanked off black steel walls, floors and ceilings. My guide would not follow me in here; I was alone. 

This should not make my spine crawl as much as it does, I reminded myself, bringing back memories of the many times I had adventured solo before Dogi vowed to be by my side always, or at least to always make sure others were there to protect me in his stead. I was cursed by the sea and driven by the wind, he said, but I always defied fate in the end, so others could do so alongside me, including my fate to be alone. Typical Dogi logic; when I returned, I would never hear the last of this return to my solo ways. 

I wasn’t truly alone, though, I knew; the sword whispered to me, sang a reassuring melody in my soul, and its pulsing amethyst light illuminated a path for me, deeper inside the facility.

* * *

Several laser bolts suddenly flew out of the shadows, one of them singeing my hair. Only the remnants of the Saras’ spells protected me, before fizzling and going silent. My blade whipped around, slicing deep into solid steel with a horrible grating crunch. The corrupted robot sparked and shuddered. I wrenched my blade free, kicking the still spasming thing away from me.

Distant sirens, then another spray of laser bolts told me that more had arrived. Knowing that I was woefully outnumbered, I felt that I was on a gantry and leaped, landing on all fours one of the strange, humming globes of red light I could barely see below me. The robots chased me, but I had already fled through a narrow doorway that I hoped would at least slow them down as they made their way single file, rotors barely scraping inside. The long tunnel was featureless apart from the usual red twinkling service lights dotting the metal walls. The small door at the end opened automatically with a beeping, whining noise, to my relief - I hadn't fought that far ahead, although truth be told I would rather fight my opponents one at a time. I wondered if the Sara were opening passages for me. It was humbling to be reminded once again how many allies I have behind the scenes, even in such strange, isolated places, and that I would not have gotten this far without them. I climbed out of the corridor and the door managed to close again after only two of the robots escaped after me. After dispatching them, I looked around to find myself in a much wider corridor that turned a corner before entering another large chamber - and all around me were stars.


	6. Chapter 6

It was warm, with no wind, so I guessed this room was not actually exposed to the stars, but this was some grand illusion, like the magic that Dark fact wove around us to confuse me in that final battle, or something more practical like Eldeel's observatory, to use the positions of the stars for his calculations. I could see shapes not unlike the designs of the facility drifting amid the grand celestial ocean, vast arks on some long journey. Was this, then, the secret of the Roo ancestors - that they had traveled the stars to get here? From listening to Eldeel, although a lot of his philosophy was beyond me, I gleaned that there were lands beyond the skies, although he refused to elaborate too much, saying that he hadn't meant to reveal that knowledge yet, that our civilisation wasn't at all ready to expand in that direction. I had shrugged and said that, although I had literally no idea how one would do so, I was interested in heading out there in advance, in my usual role of pioneer - I jokingly suggested that maybe Feena would lend me her spare pair of wings to fly up there. He told me to be very careful, that people couldn't breathe up there or survive the pressures of the air or the cold, and that there were literal different laws of nature, like some chaotic realm, so there were no limits on what horrors I might find.

It all sounded terribly exciting and tempting to me, but I agreed such a realm would require more than just a pair of wings to survive, so I hadn't even thought of a good plan to fly to the stars yet - until I found this place, and wondered whether the solution might be hidden away here. My first priority was, of course, doing something about the inevitable hordes of demons that wanted to kill me, but hopefully their summoning was tied to Kaizack's existence, as lesser demons were often summoned alongside a greater. 

After a few moments of pondering the stars, I continued into the next chamber, which was even larger than I predicted, and tiered like some ceremonial ziggurat, set into a gigantic steel wall with the sealed double door the focus of the ritual. An avenue of the glowing red spheres ascended alongside every step up to this door. Some of the glass domes were open, and things crawled out, bathed in that crimson light. The lizard-things, but larger, and more of the robots, milling over the dark steel temple like malefic ants. 

Even without the words engraved in Roonic over the door, I knew without a doubt that this was the birthplace of Kaizack. A fine black mist of malevolence already spewed from underneath the door, and as I stared up at it, sword tightly clenched, two of the largest lizards turned their heads and roared, revealing acid-covered teeth the size of daggers. 

The ancient fey sword gleamed as I sprang forwards and sliced at the nearest lizard's inverted kneecaps.

The blade struck true and the great lizard let out a terrible roar, stumbling backwards and allowing me to thrust the blade up into its vulnerable underbelly. Its companion lunged at me with snapping teeth and scything claws. I rolled under its legs and swung myself onto its back, plunging the blade into its neck. It roared again and bucked. I jumped off again, whirling around and catching the lizard across the eye with the blade as I did so. Both lizards fell and the way up the stairs was clear. Attracted by the deafening clamour of the battle, every other beast and corrupted mechanical guard was now making a beeline for me. Taking a deep breath, I sprinted up the vast stairs that were so steep I practically had to vault them. Occasionally something caught up with and I was forced to stop to defend myself, hoping desperately I wouldn't lose too much time and be surrounded by demonic fiends. By the time I reached the top of the ziggurat, I was once again covered in green ichor, as well as my own blood from several cuts where I had slipped up but didn't have time to heal myself. I took out all my healing herbs from my pouch and crammed them all into my mouth, hoping they wouldn't just be too high a dose for me to concentrate on the final battle once my head began to swirl. 

Gritting my teeth, I brandished my sword and waited for the great door to rumble open.

* * *

Inside, the birthplace of Kaizack was exactly how the Saras had described it, nightmarish proportions and all. The thing still nested inside the shattered glass domes, where tangles of thick black tubes splayed out like a crushed spider's web, leaking acidic fluid all over the floor. It resembled a stocky, warty toad, except it was easily the size of one of the primeval beasts I had faced upon the Isle of Seiren, which the lizards in the hallway had reminded me of smaller versions of. Its bulbous eyes glowed a malign red, as did the nodules all over its thick grey-black hide. There nodules flared an even brighter crimson as a wide, slit mouth opened up in the middle of its bestial, malicious face, revealing hundreds of razor-sharp slavering teeth. The furious, terrible roar that emanated from the creature shook the entire chamber, splitting through the air. Then bolts of crackling red energy the size of my head shot out of the nodules. I sprang out of the way and sharp claws flashed out of the darkness, one raking me along the side of my ribs. Ignoring the pain, I staggered to one side, another of the bolts of malign energy thudding into the space inches in front of my feet, making a crater in the metal floor. 

The sword shone violet, reacting to the energy. Its aura became larger and larger, swallowing up the demonic force, absorbing it and converting it into energy of the blade's own. Another claw lashed out and I instinctively parried it, driving the tip of the blade in-between two webbed toes in the hope of causing it pain. Violet sparks flew and it screeched, a trail of amethyst fire trailing from what should have been a tiny, inconsequential wound. 

Then again, paper cuts really hurt, especially when someone's poisoned the paper...

* * *

Morale lifted by the demon's near phobic hatred of the blade's fire, I leaped onto one of the laboratory tables, scattering apparatus, then sprang directly onto Kaizack's bulk. The mouth snapped but I brought around the blade in an arc that scraped along one of the orbs, eliciting a louder screech and a trail of red energy that leaked and turned purple as the blade siphoned it. Finally, the arc of the swing bit the demon in the roof of the mouth now that it was screaming uncontrollably. 

Heedless of the danger, seeing my chance, I stepped onto its lower jaw and leaped further up, grabbing onto a curved horn set into its forehead, then swung across one side of its face and plunged the blade into one of its eyes with every ounce of my strength. Vile fluids spurted from the deep gash, drenching me and stinging my flesh, but I ignored the pain and carried on wildly stabbing. Volleys of crimson energy bombarded me, forcing me to swing my sword around me and absorb them, the blade now wreathed with a violet inferno. Several times I was nearly shaken from the writhing, bellowing, screaming thing, but I plunged in my blade again and hung on for dear life. It was weakening from pain, the sword's energies burning it and releasing foul purple smoke. Finally the monstrous thing collapsed inwards, erupting into silvery-purple rays of light as the very magic pulling it into this world was attacked, its arcane words dismantled. 

I was thrown backwards and downwards through a blinding coruscation of light, all my senses swimming, my ears ringing from the tone of a thousand bells. Then the pain of all my own injuries caught up with me and everything went dark.

* * *

I was floating among the stars, upon the same white wings as the Goddesses. A girl's voice was softly calling me. At first I assumed it was Feena, come to steer me home - who else could this pure, angelic form be? But her hair was a vibrant earthy brown, not the noble, delicate blue of the Twin Goddesses. Her smile was so pure, so joyous... It had to be Lilia, then...

But I knew Lilia's face imprinted deep within my own heart, and this was not Lilia. Someone else, then, yet another beautiful girl. I smiled and reached out my hand to take hers. She whispered something in a reassuring tone, something I didn't quite hear before suddenly the dream was fading...

I awoke inside a sphere of powerful shielding magic, a lattice of white light, floating through the air away from the flaming laboratory. I thought with a smile what a miracle it was that I hadn't managed to wreck the whole facility - even now, maintenance drones poured in to put out the fires while other, more heavily armed and armoured robots fended off their still malfunctioning brothers who had been corrupted by the demonic energy. A couple of Sara supervisors waved at me. Others chanted and waved to direct the sphere - I saw that there was a ritual circle of twelve of the creatures, working in concert to protect me and bring me to safety. When my feet touched ground, I was mobbed by a small gang of healers. 

Looking rather stupidly down at my hands, I saw that the sword was gone from my person.

*SWORD* *explode*, explained one of the Saras via their terminal, *take with it* *KAIZACK*.

"Well, as long as it did its job," I shrugged, "I'd only have lost it next time I get in a shipwreck."

*BOAT* *return* for *ADOL*, said the Sara, *strong* *MAGIC*.

I described Mitchell lap Haven's ship and they confirmed that this was the vessel they meant. So it had survived the curse of Adol Christin after all. It wouldn't be long until I was discovered and could return to somewhere slightly more sane, if I was lucky, which I'm not - well, I am, but the luck is always wild, the bad accompanied by the good in vast extremes every single day. I promised the Saras I wouldn't reveal anything of their existence, especially not the signs of their voyage to the stars, or their brief experiments with demonic entities. They thanked me, saying that they should at least be able to trust their only human hero since Yunica Tovah herself, and promised me that the Roos would slowly reveal what they knew when it was safe, when the other life forms on the planet were able to handle such understanding of their wider Universe.

I asked who Yunica Tovah was...


End file.
